Friday, 26 July 2013

Pa’s Home Baked Rustique Banana Loaf

Even the ingredients are smiling.Then as part of a great British fry-up for breakfast this morning, I incorporated a couple of buttered slices.

DELIGHTFUL So join me please for another baking adventure

Ok well regular readers will know that my last stab at making gluten-free bread I stuck fairly much to a conventional bread style, although I added a couple of extras to give it some consistency. Well that approach is out today. No kneading needed. I have used a different flour mix for this, one that is a gluten-free brown bread mix. Now this isn’t brown, meaning wholegrain, like wheat. This just has carob flour added for colour. Also gum to give it some stickiness. For this loaf I have used more of a cake style bake

Well this is where we are headed and I hope you agree that it came out rather fine. There were a couple of mishaps along the way, mainly because I misjudged quantities and used one small loaf tin, when it needed two small tins or one large one. It rose magnificently, cascading over the sides and dropping wantonly where it chose, in and out of the oven. So let’s get to the ingredients

Ingredients

500g gluten free brown bread flour

12g quick yeast

1/2 tsp salt

60g sugar

2 soft bananas

10g cinnamon

20g root ginger

350ml warm milk

2 free range eggs

1 tsp lemon juice

6 tbs sunflower oil1tsp vanilla extract

Method

Well this is such a simple recipe, first of all put all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix well. Then grate the root ginger on, mix again. Break up the bananas and rub them into the flour mix and once again give a thorough mixing. You want a texture containing some breadcrumb size lumps with a few larger pieces of banana as well.Into a jug or bowl crack the eggs and whisk well. Add the warm milk, sunflower oil, vanilla extract and whisk again. Give it a good whisking to get plenty of air into it, then pour it onto the flour mixture. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon, add the lemon juice and mix in. Now give it a really thorough beating.

Now pour into an oiled and lined loaf tin, cover with a clean cloth and leave to stand in a warm, draught free place for one hour to rise.

As you can see, I really filled that loaf tin to the top. I should have split the mix between 2 of the small tins or used one large loaf tin. After the limited rise at my last bread attempt, I thought I would get away with it. Silly me of course I didn’t.

As you can see I also forgot to line the tin with baking paper which would come back to bite me when the time came to take it out of the tin. Preheat the oven to 200oC. Then fetch the risen loaf. Mine had risen magnificently, gloriously, even more than you can see in the picture. Because it was a batter rather than a dough, it didn’t hold together and quite a lot had gone over the side and dropped. This continued even after I had put it in the preheated oven and made quite a mess.

Warning;- these quantities are definitely too much for a small loaf tin

Put in the top half of the pre-heated oven for 40 – 45 minutes. Remember to adjust the temperature to 180oC if you have a fan oven. Keep an eye on your bake, take out when done This is when you will appreciate having remembered to line the tin with baking paper. Now turn the loaf out onto a wire rack and allow to cool Slice, butter and enjoy

Well I thoroughly enjoyed baking this loaf despite, or maybe because of, my mistakes and misadventures. What it does show is that you can correct, fix, get away with, quite a lot in baking and still come out with a tasty result and a pleasantly rustic appearance.

The following morning I had a fry-up for breakfast and used a couple of buttered slices of the banana bread as the basis for this ballast. I topped the bread with some onion, mushroom and sweet pepper which I stir fried in sunflower oil with honey and my favourite garam masala. In a separate fry pan with sunflower oil and thin sliced rings of fresh Coxes apple, I did a couple of free range eggs sunny side up and dusted them with sea salt and cracked black pepper on the plate. Delicious, Delightful.

So we reach the end again my friends, at least for now. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and the surprising number of photos as well. I seem to have been getting a little carried away. I hope none the worse for that. I really do recommend giving this recipe a go, it was very easy and quicker to make than to write this post. With an electric mixer in my hand I did not even need to call on the services of my kitchen ninja allowing o delicado Modeleinne to relax and enjoy the spoils of bakery Thank you my friends for staying with me and I hope to chat to you again soon and offer up another of my kitchen adventures for your pleasure. Until then I wish you bananas, bakes and breakfasts and as always enjoy what you eat and eat what you enjoy.